19.2.5 What happened to the eleven children of John Stoney (1703-1771)?

 My presumed 6xgreat grandfather John Stoney married twice and had eleven children between 1737-1762. All but one were girls, and only half of these survived infancy. They were:

With first wife Alice Stainforth:

1.     Elizabeth, daughter of John Stoney of Hartlinton Moorside, Yeoman, born 10 February 1737 and baptised 20 February, Burnsall

2.     Eleanor, daughter of John Stoney of Hartlinton Moorside, Yeoman, was publicly baptised 23 January 1738, Burnsall (Elin, daughter of John Stoney, of Grassington, buried 29 Dec 1740)

3.     Margaret, (possibly, 20 Nov 1740, Linton in Craven, daughter of John Stoney of Gris., Yeoman), daughter of John Stoney of Grassington, Yeoman, buried 2 January 1741

4.     Jonathan, son of John Stoney of Kettlewell, Yeoman, baptised 6 February 1743, Kettlewell

With second wife Ann Pawson:

5.     Elin, daughter of John Stoney of Kettlewell, Yeoman, baptised 31 October 1750 (buried 6 November 1751, daughter of John Stoney, Yeoman), Kettlewell

6.     Dorothea, daughter of John Stoney, Yeoman, baptised 29 January 1752, Kettlewell

7.     Ann, born around 1754, named in her father’s and half-brother’s wills, baptism not found

8.     Mary, daughter of John Stoney of Kettlewell, Yeoman, baptised 27 March 1756, Kettlewell

9.     Rachel, daughter of John Stoney and Ann, 5 December 1757 (buried 30 January 1759, daughter of John Stoney, Yeoman), Kettlewell

10.   Alice, daughter of John Stoney and Ann, baptised 17 April 1760, Kettlewell

11.   Hannah, daughter of John Stoney, baptised 14 February 1762, Kettlewell

1. Elizabeth Stoney (1737-1809)

After her baptism at Burnsall in 1737, nothing is heard of Elizabeth, the first child of John Stoney, until her marriage at Kettlewell, aged 22, to Joseph Lindsay on 12 May 1759. FindMyPast has an image of the register which records the banns as well as the marriage. Both are of ‘this parish’ (Kettlewell) and Joseph is a Blacksmith.

I have found baptisms for five of their children between 1761-1771. It seems that Elizabeth used many of the names of her siblings and parents for her children: Jonathan (1761-1761); William (1765-?); John (1767-?); Alice (1769-1770) and Ellen (1771-?). The will of an Elizabeth Lindsay of Kettlewell was proved in 1809 (copy available from The Borthwick Institute); she would have been about 72 years old if she died that year, although I have not found a burial record for her. Her husband died in September 1799.

2 & 3: Elin/Eleanor and Margaret Stoney

Both of John Stoney’s next two children died in infancy.

4. Jonathan Stoney (1743-1808)

Jonathan’s story – what little we know of this Yeoman of Kettlewell – has already been told. He was the last of John Stoney's children with his first wife, Alice Stainforth, who died three years after Jonathan's birth.

5. Elin Stoney (1750-1751)

Elin was the first child of John Stoney and his second wife Ann Pawson. Sadly, like her older half-sister, she died in infancy.

6. Dorothy Stoney (1752-1811)

Dorothea Stoney was baptised at Kettlewell in January 1752. She is the first-named daughter in her father’s will of 1771, when she was bequeathed a guinea, like her sisters. She would have been about 19 years old at his death, and was his oldest unmarried daughter. Ten years later, aged 29, she married the splendidly named Robinson Grandidge on 26 July 1781 at Kildwick, about 18 miles from Kettlewell. From his baptism record, he appears to have been illegitimate – perhaps his father’s surname was Robinson? He and Dorothy/Dorothea baptised at least four children between 1784 and 1796 – there may have been others, as the surname is open to much variation in spelling. Robinson Grandidge is recorded as paying land tax at Farnhill, just across the canal from Kildwick, where the couple married. He was a Yeoman farmer like his father-in-law. His wife died in 1811, buried on 29 September that year, ‘wife of Robinson Grandidge, Yeoman’, when she would have been about 59 years old. Robinson continues to be recorded as paying taxes at Farnhill until 1823, although he actually died in July 1822, being buried at Kildwick on 21 July. Their youngest son, also Robinson Grandidge, was born in 1796 and passed on the Stoney name to his own son, Jonathan Stoney Gandidge, who was born in 1836.

7. Ann Stoney (1754-1828)

Ann Stoney was 17 when her father died, leaving her a guinea in his will. She was about fifty years old when her half-brother Jonathan Stoney made his will in 1804, writing “all my real estate whatsoever situate at Kettlewell aforesaid or elsewhere and also all my household goods and ffurniture plate linen ready money money owing to me upon or without security or securities and all other my personal estate whatsoever and wheresoever I give devise and bequeathe to my sister Ann Stoney and her assigns during the term of her natural life and from and immediately after her decease I give devise and bequeath the same unto my Nephew William Stoney [of Leeds in the County of York Grocer]”. It seems that she did not marry, despite not receiving much under their father’s will. Perhaps she had lived with Jonathan, acting as housekeeper, as he also remained unmarried, or he maintained her during her lifetime. She died intestate on 6 April 1828, her married sister Hannah Myers being granted administration of her estate, which is said not to exceed £20 in value. It is not clear whether Jonathan Stoney’s estate – which he willed to pass to his nephew William Stoney, Grocer of Leeds after her death – was actually transferred to him, as by then he had been imprisoned on a Hulk on the Thames for four years, been pardoned and had started a family in London, being regularly in debt before and after.

8. Mary Stoney (1756-1799)

My 5xgreat grandmother Mary Stoney was also unmarried, aged 15, when she was left a guinea in her father’s will. She did not marry, but had an illegitimate son, William Moorhouse Stoney, the ‘nephew, Grocer of Leeds’ mentioned in her half-brother’s will in 1804 some five years after her death.

9. Rachel Stoney (1757-1759)

The fifth daughter of John Stoney and his second wife Ann Pawson died aged just two years old.

10. Alice Stoney (1760-?)

We know that Alice Stoney was baptised in Kettlewell on 17 April 1760, and that she was still alive – aged about 11 – when she is left a guinea in her father’s will. I have not found any obvious death or burial records for an Alice Stoney after that. There is a marriage record for 20 October 1784 for an Alice Stoney and Richard Duckett at Arncliffe – about five miles from Kettlewell – at FindMyPast. She was about 24 years old. This Alice is said to be from Arncliffe Parish, her husband is from nearby Long Preston. This couple baptised a son, William, at Long Preston in 1788, but little else is known about their lives. I have not been able to find any obvious death or burial records for them, although their son moved to Nottinghamshire and Leicester, and was a Cabinet Maker.

11. Hannah Stoney (1762-1833)

John Stoney’s youngest daughter was baptised at Kettlewell on 14 February 1762; she would have been about nine years old when her father died, naming her in his will and leaving her a guinea, like her other unmarried sisters. She was only 16 when her mother Ann Pawson died in 1778. It seems that Hannah, like her older sister Alice, moved to Arncliffe at some point in the 1780s, as she was also married from there on 10 March 1788, aged 24. Her husband was John Metcalfe, and one of the witnesses was her older sister’s husband, Robinson Grandidge. Whereas sister Alice married Richard Ducket by license, Hannah and John married by banns. Her husband died some time before 1813, and she remarried on 17 June 1813 at Arncliffe. Her husband this time was Henry Myers. When her spinster sister Ann Stoney died in 1828, Hannah Myers, widow of Long Preston, is granted administration of her small estate. She appears to have died in February 1833 and was buried – aged 70 – in Kettlewell, her parish of birth. Administration of her estate was granted to a Robert Metcalfe. He may have been her son from her first marriage, or another relative of her first husband.

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view

19.2.3 Jonathan Stoney (1743-1808): Son of 6xgreat grandfather John Stoney

John Stoney was possibly my 6xgreat grandfather – grandfather to my 3xgreat grandfather William Moorhouse Stoney, who was (also possibly) the illegitimate son of Mary Stoney. He died in April 1771 and was buried at Kettlewell, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where he owned property and land which, as a Yeoman, he worked for himself. He may also have been resident earlier in his life at Hartlinton (parish of his first wife Alice Stainforth) and Grassington, both close to Kettlewell. At the time of the 1741 general election, poll books at FindMyPast show that he was resident at Grassington, but that it was his freehold property at Kettlewell which entitled him to a vote.

His will was written a few days before his death. While his second wife Ann Pawson was the sole executrix and granted leave to stay in their ‘dwelling house’ with garden and turfhouse attached for the rest of her widowhood, and his surviving teenage daughters were bequeathed a guinea each, the main legacy was to his son by his first wife, Jonathan Stoney.

Jonathan was baptised at Kettlewell on 6 February 1743:

In his will, his father gives and devises to his son Jonathan Stoney:

“… that my messuage and my dwelling house wherein I reside together with the appurtenances thereunto belonging and all other my estate situate within the township of Kettlewell aforesaid which is of the nature of freehold … Also I give devise and bequeath unto my said son Jonathan Stoney all my lands tenements and premises with their and every of their appurtenances situate in Kettlewell aforesaid which I hold by term of years and which is of the nature of leasehold to hold the same unto him my said son”.

Jonathan would have been about 28 years old when his father died, leaving a widow and five unmarried daughters aged 9-19. Nothing more is found of him in the online records until he is recorded as a voter at Kettlewell in the 1807 poll book at Ancestry:

The same year, his burial is recorded at Kettlewell on 14 December 1807, aged 63. His surname is transcribed as Stona. Probate of his will, written on 26 June 1804, was granted in January 1808. He does not seem to have married, and leaves legacies to his spinster sister Ann Stoney, and his nephew (son of his late sister Mary Stoney). This nephew may be my 3xgreat grandfather William Moorhouse Stoney.

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view

19.2.2 Tracing the children of John Stoney, Yeoman of Kettlewell (1703-1771)

My supposed 6xgreat grandfather John Stoney’s will was written just before his death in April 1771 in Kettlewell, West Riding of Yorkshire. In it he names his wife, Ann Pawson, his son Jonathan Stoney and daughters Dorothy, Ann, Mary, Alice and Hannah Stoney.

A search at FindMyPast for the baptisms at Kettlewell of these children after his marriage to Ann Pawson in 1748 reveals the following:

• ·       Dorothea, daughter of John Stoney, Yeoman, 29 January 1752 (Age 19 in 1771)
• ·       Mary, daughter of John Stoney of Kettlewell, Yeoman, 27 March 1756 (age 15)
• ·       Alice, daughter of John Stoney and Ann, 17 April 1760 (age 11)
• ·       Hannah, daughter of John Stoney, 14 February 1762 (age 9)

It seems that the couple had at least two other daughters who died in infancy, as the following baptisms and burials were also found at FindMyPast:

• ·       Elin, daughter of John Stoney of Kettlewell, Yeoman, 31 October 1750 (buried 6 November 1751, daughter of John Stoney, Yeoman)
• ·       Rachel, daughter of John Stoney and Ann, 5 December 1757 (buried 30 January 1759, daughter of John Stoney, Yeoman)

I have not found the baptism of daughter Ann, who is listed second in her father’s will after Dorothy and before Mary and was presumably born between the two, in about 1754 – she would therefore have been 16-17 when her father died.

His son Jonathan Stoney, who inherited land and property, appears to have been a child of John Stoney’s previous marriage. A Jonathan Stoney was baptised at Kettlewell on 6 February 1743, son of John Stoney. No mother’s name is given. He would have been 28 at the time of his father’s death.

There is a marriage record for a John Stoney  to Alice Stainforth in 1736 (FamilySearch) in Burnsall, Yorkshire, nine miles from Kettlewell. FindMyPast has a very faint copy of the register of Burnsall for 1736 which shows that ‘John Stoney of Kettlewell Husb. [husbandman] & Alice Stainforth of [the parish of Har?] Spins. Were 3 publishd? lawfully and married in the parish of Burnsall by Mr. [?] on the 3 day of May with certificate from M. Currer Minister of Kettlewell’.

A husbandman was one below a Yeoman in the social strata of the day, but perhaps at that time he only held and worked land on leasehold, later buying his own and therefore being a Yeoman.

An Alice Stoney ‘wife of John Stoney Yeoman of Kettlewell’ was buried in Kettlewell on 26 April 1746, ten years after the marriage, and two years before he married Ann Pawson.

It would seem strange that John Stoney and his first wife Alice only had one son, seven years after their marriage. A search at FindMyPast and FamilySearch for the baptisms of other children of John Stoney in Kettlewell between 1736 and the death of Alice Stoney in Kettlewell in 1746 failed to find any other than Jonathan.

However, two daughters -  children of John Stoney Yeoman - were baptised in Burnsall, where they were married: Elizabeth in February 1737 – nine months after the marriage - and Eleanor in 1738. The baptism records are very hard to read, but the place of residence of the father in both cases looks more like Hartlinton, Moore Side. On another transcript of the marriage record of John Stoney and Alice Stainforth, she is said to be of ‘Hartlinton’ or similar … so there may be a connection. Hartlinton is a tiny village near Burnsall.

There are also two burials in Kettlewell – one at the end of December 1740 for Elin (Eleanor), daughter of John Stoney of Grassington (near Burnsall), Yeoman and for Margaret, daughter of the same, in January 1741. However, John Stoney was registered to vote at Kettlewell in the 1741 general election; is this the same man? Another search at FindMyPast for the 1741 election provides a clue that he might be. John Stoney is registered as a freeholder residing at Grassington, but his freehold property is in Kettlewell!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it seems possible that John Stoney and his wife Alice Stainforth had at least four children: Elizabeth, Elin/Eleanor, Margaret and Jonathan, and that at least two of them had died by the time he married Ann Pawson. Their daughter Elizabeth may have married a Joseph Lyndsey in Kettlewell in 1759, when she would have been about 22 years old (record at FindMyPast).

Of John Stoney’s 11 children from two marriages, only one was male – Jonathan, son with his first wife Alice – and only five of the ten daughters survived beyond infancy. I share what I have found about them all - and the potential links with William Moorhouse Stoney, in another post. 

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view

19.2.1 The Will of John Stoney of Kettlewell, Yeoman, 1771

John Stoney was possibly my 6xgreat grandfather – grandfather to my 3xgreat grandfather William Moorhouse Stoney, who was (also possibly) the illegitimate son of Mary Stoney. John Stoney died in April 1771 and was buried at Kettlewell, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where he had lived – as far as I can tell – all his life, married (probably twice) and raised a large number of children, almost all girls. The will is lengthy with legalistic prose and many detailed bequests to family members, which is helpful in reconstructing how – if at all – Mary Stoney and her son William Moorhouse Stoney – fit in. The transcription (and therefore any errors) is all mine. The cover page records the grant of probate to his widow, Ann:

Execrs of the Will of John Stoney late of Kettlewell ???? was granted to Ann Stoney widow relict and sole executrix. By Carr 10 October 1771

The Will of John Stoney of Kettlewell

The next page simply says: 30th March 1771, John Stoney’s will. On page 3, the will starts in the usual fashion:

This is the last will and testament of me John Stoney of Kettlewell in the County of York Yeoman which I make in manner and form following that is to say I give and devise to my son Jonathan Stoney all that my messuage and my dwelling house wherein I reside together with the appurtenances thereunto belonging and all other my estate situate within the township of Kettlewell aforesaid which is of the nature of freehold I hold the same and every part thereof unto him my said son and his heirs and assigns forever Subject nevertheless and upon express condition that he and they permit and suffer my dear wife Ann Stoney without any molestation whatsoever to use occupy and keep my said messuage and dwelling house with the turfhouse and garden thereunto belonging and adjoining and during so long as she shall remain my widow which I intend as a place of residence for her during that state Also I give devise and bequeath unto my said son Jonathan Stoney all my lands tenements and premises with their and every of their appurtenances situate in Kettlewell aforesaid which I hold by term of years and which is of the nature of leasehold to hold the same unto him my said son his executors administrators and assigns from and immediately after my decease for and during the remainder of all such term and terms of years as at the time of my decease I may happen to have unexpired therein yielding and paying thereout yearly unto my said dear wife and her assigns the sum of forty shillings during her widowhood as aforementioned and no longer which I hereby direct shall be paid by half yearly payments the first whereof and to commence and be made immediately at the end of six months after my decease To my daughters to wit Dorothy, Ann, Mary, Alice and Hannah I give each the sum of one pound and one shilling to be paid to them respectively at the end of twelve months next ensuing my decease by my executrix hereinafter named whom I do hereby direct to discharge all my just debts, my funeral expenses and the expense of proving this my last will and testament and I do hereby constitute and appoint my said dear wife Ann Stoney sole executrix of this my said last will and testament and whereas by reason of the abovementioned devise of my freehold estate it may happen that my brothers Robert Stoney and James Stoney may come to be disturbed in the possession of the dwelling house that they now inhabit I do hereby declare that at the time of erecting thereof it was agreed between my said brothers that in consideration of the expense which they were at therein they should hold the same during their joint lives and the life of the longer liver of them quietly and without any form of claim from me or mine which said agreement I do hereby solemnly confirm In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this thirtieth day of March in the year of our lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy one

Signed sealed published and declared by the testator as and for this his last will and testament in the presence of us, who in his presence, and in the presence of each other, and at his request have as witnesses hereunto subscribed our names

Abraham Gopham?  John Bolland   Warren Simondson

John Stoney’s ‘hand’ in signature alongside his seal is somewhat shaky – perhaps from old age or infirmity, or perhaps because he wasn’t used to writing.

 

Appended after this is the declaration of one of the witnesses and the executrix:

Know all men by these presents that we Ann Stoney of Kettlewell in the County of York Widow and Warren Simondson of Starbotton in the parish of Kettlewell aforesaid Gentleman do stand and are firmly burdened and obliged unto the Worshipful PETER JOHNSON Master of Arts Commissary of the Exchequer Court of the most reverend father in God ROBERT by divine providence Lord Arch-Bishop of York, Primate of England and Metropolitan lawfully constituted in the sum of Fifty pounds of good and lawful money of Great Britain to be paid to the said commissary or his true and lawful attorney executors administrators or assigns to the which payment well and truly made We bind us and each of us jointly and severally for and in the whole of them firmly by these presents sealed with our seals Dated the nineteenth day of the month of September in the year of our lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy one The condition of this obligation is such that if the above bound Ann Stoney relict and sole executrix named in the last will and testament of John Stoney late of Kettlewell aforesaid in the diocese of York Yeoman deceased do well and truly execute and perform the said the last will and testament of the deceased And do pay his debts and legacies so far as his goods will extend law shall bind her if also she do exhibit into the Exchequer court at York a true and perfect inventory of all and singular the goods, rights, credits, cattles and chattles of the said deceased and do make a true and joint accompt of the same when she shall be thereunto lawfully called And moreover if need require enter into further Bond with more sufficient Sureties for the performance of the premisies as the Judge of the said court for the time being shall think requisite and needful And lastly do save, defend and harmless keep the above named judge, and all his Officers and Ministers, against all persons by reason of the Premisies Then this present obligation to be void and of none effect or else to remain in full force and virtue Sealed and delivered in the presence of Tho. Carr Surrogate Ann Stoney X her mark] Warren Simondson

Ann Stoney the within named executrix was duly sworn before me Tho. Carr Surrogate. Past? 10th October 1771.

From this we can reconstruct the family of John Stoney as it was at the time of writing his will in March 1771:

His wife was Ann (formerly Pawson, as per the marriage record of 1748) and his children were:

• ·       Jonathan, his son, who was to receive the bulk of the legacy of lands and property, freehold and leasehold, but permit Ann Stoney to continue living in his ‘dwelling house’ for the remainder of her widowhood and receive 40 shillings annually from the produce of the land
• ·       Daughters (probably in order of birth): Dorothy, Ann, Mary, Alice and Hannah who are each to receive “the sum of one pound and one shilling to be paid to them respectively at the end of twelve months next ensuing my decease by my executrix”
• ·       Brothers James Stoney and Robert Stoney to continue to live in the ‘dwelling house that they now inhabit’ for as long as they live (ie until the death of the surviving one)

The guinea to each of his daughters is a gesture only, as they would not be expected to retain any monies given to them as these would immediately become the property of their husbands (whether married at the time or later). None of them is described as ‘the wife of …’ so they were all presumably at this point unmarried and, possibly, under age.

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view

19.2 6xgreat grandparents John Stoney, Yeoman of Kettlewell & Ann Pawson

The baptism of Mary Stoney, my (possibly) 5xgreatgrandmother, at Kettlewell, Yorkshire in 1756 names her father as John Stoney, of Kettlewell, Yeoman.

A search online for the meaning of Yeoman in the mid-late 1700s suggests that this body of men formed a social class between the gentry and tenants, that is, they owned and worked small farms or tracts of land for themselves. They weren’t big landowners like the gentry, but they didn’t work for someone else, like tenant farmers. They were entitled to vote in elections and would have paid taxes. In Elections and the Yeoman: The Changing Identity of the English County Voter, 1700 to 1850 - BASKERVILLE - 1998 - Parliamentary History - Wiley Online Library the author suggests that “the numbers and social status of English yeomen altered dramatically in the course of the eighteenth century” as a result of parliamentary enclosure on the one hand, and a ‘drive’ towards ever larger farms, with tenants paying rent.

What, if anything, then, can be found out about my potential 6xgreat grandfather John Stoney, of Kettlewell, Yeoman? And what, if any, light might this throw on the life of his daughter Mary Stoney, the potential – but not proved – unmarried mother of my 3xgreat grandfather William Moorhouse Stoney, born around 1776 in Kettlewell? William Moorhouse Stoney’s life was one of twists and turns, and he may not always have stuck to the truth. His timeline shows what I have discovered, but linking him back to his grandfather and beyond, and the rest of the family, is difficult. His middle name seems to have appeared part-way through his time in the prison system; before that, he was plain William Stoney. His birthplace in the 1851 census is ‘Skipton, Yorkshire’. On his prison record, it is more specifically Kettlewell, in the West Riding. His occupation varies enormously and includes Grocer, General and Coal Dealer, Commercial Traveller, Agent and ‘Gentleman’.

FindMyPast, in partnership with The Borthwick Institute at the University of York, has a good selection of records for the Stoney families of Kettlewell. The Village’s website has brief information about the History of Kettlewell in the Yorkshire Dales. Ancestry also holds electoral records – poll books – covering registered voters of Kettlewell. In 1741, John Stoney of Kettlewell is recorded as a voter, casting his vote for George Fox Esq (a Tory politician – George Fox-Lane, first Baron Bingley). His name is shown as Stoney in the poll book, and Stoner in the summary book of freeholders who voted for Fox (also at Ancestry).

FindMyPast has nine records relating to a John Stoney of Kettlewell in the 1700s. The earliest is in 1743, a burial – too early to be the father of Mary Stoney, baptised in 1756. The next is a difficult to read marriage entry headed Marriages in ye Year 1748:

It reads: Nov: 1 Married John Stoney Yeoman & Ann Pawson spinster, both of this Parish by Banns by me John Currer Vic.

The site also has the Bishop’s Transcript of the original register which is easier to read, with the addition of Kettlewell at the end of the line – though whether this applies to the Vicar John Currer, or to the parties to the marriage, is not entirely clear:

 

GENUKI: Kettlewell, Rectors transcription, Yorkshire (West Riding) has a list of the vicars of St Mary, Kettlewell dating from 1348. John Currer AB was appointed to the living in 1740. CCED: Browse Persons (theclergydatabase.org.uk) shows that Currer was an Oxford man (Brasenose) who became curate at Kettlewell in 1726, so he would have been familiar to the parishioners – including the Stoneys – for at least two generations. He continued in his role until his death in 1760.

The next record at FindMyPast is for the burial of John Stoney on April 3^rd, 1771, in Kettlewell.

As a Yeoman, he would have had land and possibly property to leave to his family, and the next record is for the Will of John Stoney, proved in October of that year. I ordered a copy of the Will from the Borthwick Institute which shows that, at the time he wrote it in 1771, John Stoney, Yeoman of Kettlewell, had a wife, Ann, a son, Jonathan, daughters Dorothy, Ann, Mary, Alice and Hannah and two brothers - James and Robert.

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view

19.1 5xgreat grandmother Mary Stoney, Kettlewell Mantua Maker (1756-1799)

 My 4xgreat grandfather William Moorhouse Stoney had a long and varied life, and several brushes with the law – including time on a prison Hulk. Most of this was before his second marriage and the births of his children, including my 3xgreat grandmother Catherine Alice Stoney.

The Hulk Registers of 1819-1823 confirm his place of birth as Kettlewell, Yorkshire, his birth year as around 1778. Kettlewell is in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in Wharfdale, postal town Skipton (which William Moorhouse Stoney gives as his birthplace in the 1851 census). His birth year in the censuses ranges from 1765 (probably rounded down)-1771. I have not found a baptism for any William Moorhouse Stoney in online records between 1765-1778. I did find a baptism at Kettlewell in 1776:

The entry from FindMyPast reads (2^nd line in image above): William, natural son of Mary Stoney, Bapt. Dec 31^st . There are many other Stoney baptisms in West Yorkshire, particularly Pateley Bridge, Leeds and Huddersfield within a similar period. However, the above baptism seems the most likely in terms of date and place. FindMyPast also has records of Stoneys living at Kettlewell from the 1600s, although the surname is widespread across Yorkshire.

So what more – if anything – can be found to prove or disprove that William Moorhouse Stoney was the son of the unmarried Mary Stoney of Kettlewell?

If Mary Stoney remained unmarried, then she may be the woman of that name, aged 42, who was buried in Kettlewell on 10 April 1799. The burial record (Bishop’s Transcript) at FindMyPast gives her occupation: Mantua Maker (see second line below):

Other women whose burials are recorded in pages of the register are usually shown as ‘widow’ or ‘wife’ of a man or, if unmarried, their place of residence or occupation. This is not conclusive, but as her burial entry follows this pattern, it suggests that Mary Stoney was a single woman who had an occupation to support her at the time of her death.

mantua | Fashion History Timeline (fitnyc.edu) quotes Elizabeth Lewandowski in The Complete Costume Dictionary (2011), who defines a mantua as:

“Early Georgian (1700-1750). Formal gown with formerly drapery in the back. Worn over boned bodice and with elaborate skirt. Popular in the United Kingdom longer than elsewhere.” (186)

The Kettlewell incumbent may not have known the precise fashion difference between a Mantua or the styles that came later, or rural Yorkshire ladies may have continued, as the quote above suggests, to wear them long after they fell out of fashion elsewhere, and require their local mantua maker to sew them for them.

However, the same site also notes: “In addition the Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion explains the enduring legacy of the mantua on later fashion:

“The pulled-back overskirts of late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth-century mantuas (loose-fitting gowns) emphasized this area [the rear of the dress], and pads or “cork rumps” sometimes supported the swagged-up styles of the late 1770s and 1780s.” (204)

It is likely that Mary Stoney constructed mantuas for her Yorkshire customers well into her 30s, in the late 1790s, perhaps adjusting styles to reflect more modern tastes.

If aged 42 in 1799, it is likely that she was born around 1757. A search for her baptism at Kettlewell around that time finds a very untidy parish register for 1756 at FindMyPast.

Just legible in the sloping entry is March 27 Bap: Mary ye Daughter of John Stoney of Kettlewell Yeoman.

The only other likely records we might find for Mary Stoney beyond her baptism and burial, could be if there was an examination by the poor law guardians to find the name of the father of her illegitimate child. But if she wasn’t a pauper or the child was unlikely to be a burden on the parish, this may not have happened. Was she supported by her family? Who was her father, John Stoney, Yeoman of Kettlewell?

For the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history: Sources and resources: A quick view